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Margarethe Nitschke, Mai 1935
© Archiv Evangelische Stiftung Alsterdorf

Margarethe Nitschke * 1908

Schmüserstraße 25 (Wandsbek, Wandsbek)

HIER WOHNTE
MARGARETHE
NITSCHKE
JG. 1908
EINGEWIESEN 1930
ALSTERDORFER ANSTALTEN
"VERLEGT" 1943
HEILANSTALT
AM STEINHOF WIEN
TOT 10.7.1945

Margarethe Anna Nitschke, born on 9 Mar. 1908 in Wandsbek, admitted on 11 Sept. 1930 to the then Alsterdorf Asylum (Alsterdorfer Anstalten), "transferred” on 16 Aug. 1943 to the Vienna Municipal Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt, a "sanatorium and nursing home,” died on 10 July 1945

Schmüserstrasse 27 (Stolperstein in front of house no. 25)

The parents of Margarethe Anna Nitschke had married in Volksdorf on 7 July 1889. Almost 20 years later, on 9 Mar. 1908, Margarethe was born in Wandsbek. She was the fifteenth child, a twin birth, the third one in the family. Four of her siblings had died of "insufficient vitality” ("Lebensschwäche”) shortly after birth; in 1921, one sister died of pleurisy at the age of 22; and three years later, a brother drowned at the age of 23 in a clay pit on Ziegeleiweg.

The father Ernst Wilhelm Nitschke, born on 25 Sept. 1866, a blacksmith, was a native of Wiesa in Silesia. His wife Bertha Wilhelmine Sophie, née Cornehl, born on 31 July 1870, came from Volksdorf and she had worked as a maid until marriage. She died of pneumonia in 1915 when Margarethe was seven years old.

Margarethe, called Grete, apparently developed differently than her twin brother. From her medical file, it is clear that after a bout of paralysis, she had retained a "clubfoot” and learned to walk "very late.” She only started to speak at the age of seven, perhaps because she was hard of hearing. At the age of eight or nine, she fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis and she was therefore sent by the public lung care service (Lungenfürsorge) to the lung sanatorium in Bad Oldesloe. At the age of 12, "seizures” occurred "mostly during the day due to excitement.” Margarethe attended a so-called "special school” in Wandsbek from 1915 to 1923 and reached the first grade (corresponds to today’s grade 8). After her school leaving, she was confirmed in the Kreuzkirche (Church of the Cross) in Wandsbek and lived in her father’s household at Schmüserstrasse 27.

On 20 June 1930, Margarethe Nitschke was incapacitated at the age of 22 by order of the Wandsbek District Court due to "feeblemindedness.” Why it was not her father but an employee of welfare services who assumed guardianship is not clear from the file. In the same year, on 11 September, she was admitted to what was then the Alsterdorf Asylum (today the Protestant Alsterdorf Foundation). The referring doctor justified the admission with "congenital feeblemindedness.” According to this, she was good-natured and honest, but "not usable in working life.” On 7 Apr. 1934, Gerhard Kreyenberg, senior physician in charge of the Alsterdorf Asylum, noted in a so-called hereditary health report that there was no hereditary predisposition.

Wilhelm Nitschke maintained contact with his daughter. On 2 Dec. 1930, he wrote to the director of the Alsterdorf Asylum, Pastor Friedrich Lensch, "Dear Pastor, since Christmas is a family celebration and is observed in the closest circle, I would not like to miss my daughter at this event and ask you to grant Ms. Grete Nitschke a few days’ leave.” The family visit was allowed, but specified not extend beyond New Year’s Eve. "We make it incumbent on you to take good care of your daughter and return her to the asylum on time.” Further leaves of several days from the asylum, which Margarethe Nitschke spent with her family, are also documented in her patient file, as were vacation bans due to "excited condition” or "due to restriction measures by the authorities.”

Apparently, Margarethe Nitschke had difficulty settling in at Alsterdorf. She suffered from homesickness, not taking any food in those instances and crying a lot. She wanted to go home and demanded in Low German, "Lot mi rut, wat sall ick hier, hef doch nix mokt, bin jo freiwillig komen.” ("Let me out, what business do I have here, I have not done anything, and I have come voluntarily after all.”) When she got very excited, screamed, and made a lot of noise, she was taken to the "observation room” ("Wachsaal”) [a room in which patients were immobilized and underwent continuous therapy], where she was given "body packs” ["Packungen” – whereby the body was tightly wrapped] and a drug called Pyronal to calm her down.

In the 1920s, "observation rooms” had been set up in psychiatric institutions according to the understanding of the time to serve medical progress. There, restless patients were isolated and treated with permanent baths as well as sleep and fever cures. In the course of the 1930s, they were transformed into facilities to administer coercive measures. Among other things, drugs or fixations were used to immobilize patients.

Margarethe Nitschke was employed in the institution. At her workplaces in the kitchen and later in the washhouse, she was described as eager and hardworking. In the summer of 1933, she fell ill again with pulmonary tuberculosis and she was transferred to the TB ward. In November, after her health had improved, she was able to return to her ward. A report dated 15 Sept. 1934 to the welfare office stated that her condition was unchanged, that she had perhaps become somewhat calmer overall, and that she had not recently shown such sudden states of agitation. She could manage her personal hygiene alone, apart from combing, it went on, but she was not able to keep her clothes in order. A further stay in an institution was necessary.

However, the nursing staff also perceived Margarethe Nitschke as "stubborn and obstinate.” Dealing with her was very difficult as she very often had tantrums. On 17 Nov. 1934, it was noted in the file that Margarethe Nitschke had been very "naughty and twisted” in the last few days, throwing objects around and wishing to go out, saying that otherwise she would run away.

On 1 Feb. 1936, Margarethe Nitschke was sterilized in the University Hospital in Eppendorf for "imbecility” (feeblemindedness) following a decision by the public health department. Apparently, she had hoped to be discharged afterward or at least to be allowed to go on vacation on her own. In the meantime, her father had fallen ill with a kidney disease and could no longer accompany his daughter. After Wilhelm Nitschke had explained to her that she could not be discharged from Alsterdorf because she was needed as a worker in the asylum, Margarethe refused to work.

She continued to press for discharge or to be allowed to visit her family alone, got agitated, then became violent and was isolated again. When she calmed down, she returned to work "properly.” Wilhelm Nitschke died on 30 Dec. 1937. A married sister, who lived in Tonndorf, kept in contact with Margarethe Nitschke and continued to apply for the longed-for "family leave” on her behalf.

Margarethe Nitschke’s medical file no longer contains any entries after Aug. 1937. Only on 16 May 1942, there is another entry, stating, "Pat.[ient] has been very agitated again for some time, scolds her surroundings and wants to go on vacation. Yesterday she didn’t go to work, but stayed in bed, refusing to eat during the day.”

The last handwritten entry by Dr Kreyenberg in her patent file read: "Due to severe damage to the institution by air raids transferred to Vienna.” During the heavy air raids on Hamburg in July/Aug. 1943 ("Operation Gomorrah”), the Alsterdorf Asylum had also sustained bomb damage. After consulting with the health authorities, the management of the institution took the opportunity to transfer some of the residents, who were considered "weak in work performance, requiring nursing care or particularly difficult,” to other "sanatoria” and "nursing homes.” Margarethe Nitschke was one of the 228 women and girls who were transported to the Vienna Municipal Wagner von Jauregg-Heil- und Pflegeanstalt on 16 Aug. 1943.

When she was admitted in Vienna, Margarethe Nitschke was considered to be "poorly oriented,” though "calm and tolerable.” She spent her time in the common room; reportedly, she could not be used for any occupation. On 19 Jan. 1945, she was transferred to the nursing ward.

On 10 June 1945, the report read, "Was very restless and scrappy in the common room. Physically very emaciated. Was found dead in bed at 4:30 this morning.” The following were noted as the causes of death: "imbecility” (medium mental disability), "marasmus” (emaciation), "universalis paralysis cordis” (heart paralysis).

Margarethe Nitschke had weighed 50 kilograms (about 110 lbs) when she arrived in Vienna. Due to the insufficient nutrition, she had emaciated to 36 kg (approx. 79 lbs). Between 1941 and 1945, more than 3,500 patients overall died of starvation at Steinhof. Margarethe Nitschke perished at the age of 37, one month after the end of the war.

Translator: Erwin Fink
Kindly supported by the Hermann Reemtsma Stiftung, Hamburg.

© Susanne Rosendahl

Quellen: Archiv der Evangelischen Stiftung Alsterdorf, Sonderakte 141 Nitschke, Margarethe; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 4042 u 9/1889; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3906 u 37/1889; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3862 u 120/1890; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3864 u 128/1892; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3867 u 17/1895; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3868 u 32/1896; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3852 u 511/1898; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 3852 u 512/1898; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 4546 u 262/1898; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 13308 u 713/1900; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 4570 u 56/1921; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 4573 u 237/1924; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 4577 u 13/1937; StaH 332-5 Standesämter 4590 u 267/1938; Michael Wunder, Ingrid Genkel, Harald Jenner, Auf dieser schiefen Ebene gibt es kein Halten mehr. Die Alsterdorfer Anstalten im Nationalsozialismus, 2. Aufl. Hamburg 1988.
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